Chillicothe — Mayor Luke Feeney advised about traffic restrictions at the 7th Street railroad underpass, reduced leaf collection, waiting for new zoning code, and more in his briefing to council on Monday evening.
On November 10th, 2025, Feeney said the 7th Street old railroad underpass at Sugar is undergoing work that will restrict traffic on 7th Street for most of a year. He said the tracks will be raised six inches.
From December 1st to the end of school year in the spring, 7th Street will be narrowed to one lane, with a temporary signal at the underpass between Sugar and Redd streets.
During the summer of 2026, while school is closed, the underpass will also be closed. Then it will reopen again with one lane at the start of the 2026-2027 school year.
Feeney said the city is aware of the problems that will cause with emergency vehicles, trash trucks, and school buses – but most of those usually go on the East Main Street overpass.
The recently opened centralized city facilities building is close to the underpass, in the so-called “Pepsi Warehouse.”
Feeney said leaf pickup started Monday, but with budget concerns from reduced tax revenue from the paper mill shutdown, its time has been cut down by half – five weeks instead of 10.
He said the city will still take calls to get leaves, but that response will decrease in December.
Feeney said the new “Unified Development Code” to replace the city’s old zoning code will be in effect starting December 1st.
He cautioned that anyone wanting to start a planning process might want to wait to be under the new rules.
In other notes:
Feeney said the Chillicothe and Ross County land bank will probably get a $200-300K grant this coming year, to help its effort to demolish eyesores…or at least encourage owners to take action on them.
Almost all of the Yoctangee Park area ACGP striping on Water Street is done, but some has been delayed by crosswalk ramps needing to be redone.
Feeney noted for possibly the first time, every officeholder in council chambers stayed the same after an election. Feeney generously congratulated his opponent for Municipal Court judge, assistant city prosecutor Jason Miller (representing the Law Director to council), for winning the race.
In the previous part of his briefing, Feeney suggested a different way for the city to reduce property taxes in the first part of his his briefing to council on Monday evening – but council passed their resolution to do it their way.
